Sundance house fire sends two to hospital

Clara Ho, Calgary Herald04.11.2014

Calgary Firefighters were still on the scene putting out hot spots at a serious house fire on April 12, 2014. One person was sent to the hospital after a fire that started on the outside of the back of the home and went into the attic before it was detected.Lorraine Hjalte
/ Calgary Herald

Calgary Firefighters were still on the scene putting out hot spots at a serious house fire on April 12, 2014. One person was sent to the hospital after a fire that started on the outside of the back of the home and went into the attic before it was detected.Lorraine Hjalte
/ Calgary Herald

Calgary Firefighters were still on the scene putting out hot spots at a serious house fire on April 12, 2014. One person was sent to the hospital after a fire that started on the outside of the back of the home and went into the attic before it was detected.Lorraine Hjalte
/ Calgary Herald

Calgary Firefighters were still on the scene putting out hot spots at a serious house fire on April 12, 2014. One person was sent to the hospital after a fire that started on the outside of the back of the home and went into the attic before it was detected.Lorraine Hjalte
/ Calgary Herald

A boy and a man were taken to hospital Saturday morning after a two-alarm fire gutted a home in the southeast community of Sundance.

Fire crews were called to the two-storey residence in the 500 block of Sunmills Drive S.E. at about 8:30 a.m., said battalion chief Ernie Molineaux.

“We believe the fire started on the outside of the building, probably on the deck, then climbed onto the outside wall into the attic before people realized the roof was on fire,” Molineaux said.

“It could have been a barbecue, we don’t know. That (investigation) will take some time.”

Two men, a woman and a boy were home at the time.

One of the men, believed to be in his 40s, had suffered smoke inhalation and the child “was experiencing a medical episode unrelated to the fire,” said EMS spokesman Adam Loria, adding both were taken to South Health Campus in stable condition.

The properties on either side of the house were also evacuated.

Molineaux said crews used heavy volumes of water to fight the fire defensively.

“At present time, we have water towers set up. We’re making sure we can extinguish all hot spots, make sure it doesn’t spread to other occupants’ homes,” he said. “It’s under control but it’s not out at this point.”

Molineaux said the roof is gone, and the “heavily damaged” house will not be habitable.

Neighbour Birgit Krueger said her husband was the one who alerted her to a house on fire several doors down.

When she looked outside, fire crews, paramedics and police were already at the scene, blocking off the road, and tending to the home and the occupants, who were gathered outside.

“The flames were just shooting right up...The whole top floor was completely burned down,” Krueger said.

“The first thing I thought of was the family.”

Krueger said a family of three live in the home, with a tenant in the basement. She believes it was the father and the boy who went to hospital.

The mother, who stayed behind, had run out of the house with flip flops, so Krueger went to talk to her and gave her some socks.

She encourages others to support the family as they had run out of the home with nothing but the clothes they were wearing, she said.

“They could use some help, to get them through the next couple weeks.”

Earlier in the day, firefighters were battling a blaze that erupted at a vacant mobile home in the northern Calgary community of Huntington Hills.

Crews were called to Huntwell Place N.E. at about 3 a.m.

When they arrived, they found heavy smoke and flames at the mobile home, conducted an aggressive attack, and managed to bring the fire under control.

Strong winds were concerning to neighbouring buildings, but the fire was contained to the mobile home. No one was injured.

The cause is still under investigation and a damage estimate has not yet been released.

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